Lalitpur, April 21:

Minister for Physical Planning and Works, Hisila Yami, today said that foreign aid alone cannot support in making “a New Nepal”.

“We cannot believe that foreign aid is going to materialise our vision of making a new Nepal. We must utilise what we have and add it with commitment to work hard to make the kind of Nepal we have been striving for,” she said.

She was speaking at a function to commemorate the community efforts in the distribution of drinking water from traditional stone spouts at Alko Hiti.

She added that the privatisation of drinking water, being supported by foreign aid and foreign management, will not ensure supply of safe drinking water at an affordable price.

The community organisation at Alko Hiti is collecting water from stone spouts and providing 350 litres of water daily to 200 families at the rate of Rs 100 per month.

Yami said that the efforts of the community is an example for those people who think that costly project like Melamchi is the only solution.

Dr Roshan Raj Shrestha, chief technical adviser to UN-HABITAT, said there is fund for supporting such water projects, developed and owned by the community.

“We can develop water distribution project of the community at Alko Hiti as a model project,” he said.

Rabin Lal Shrestha of the Water Aid Nepal said that he was ready to support similar projects in other areas.

Prakash Amatya, executive director of NGO Forum for Urban Water and Sanitation, said that while the local communities are working hard to revive the traditional sources of drinking water some industrial estates are damaging the water sources for their benefit.

“The community must be united to protest against such attack on water sources,” he said.

Sushil Shrestha, chairman of the Alko Hiti Conservation and Water Consumer Committee, said the committee is determined to save the source of stone spouts and it might even force the community to take to the streets.